"some may leave lessons, hard in the learning." While it is hard to believe when your kids are teenagers and think that you are the dumbest thing on earth, they are soaking up the lessons that you've taught them. I laugh at my 32 year old son when he says that one of the wisest things that he learned from me was the answer, "We'll see." When my sons were little, if I was foolish enough to promise that I'd do something with them, and then couldn't (no matter how valid the reason) they'd wail, "But Dad, you PROMISED!" Never mind if you were in intensive care. You PROMISED you'd take them to see The Empire Strikes Back. So, I learned to always say, "We'll see." I drove my sons nuts with that one, until my oldest son got married and had kids and started getting hit between the eyes with, "But Dad, you PROMISED!" Now, he tells me that he always says, "We'll see." Not a bad attitude in life.

And yes, isn't this a wonderful thread? I go back and re-read it, marveling at the love that flows through these postings. Not sentimentality. Love. I'll pass on one more bit of wisdom I picked up somewhere regarding love, honesty and sentimentality:

"Love without honesty is sentimentality
Honesty without love is cruelty."

I hear honesty and love in these postings. Not sentimentality.

Jerry